Orlando Nightclub Shooting

"We need to support each other's differences and worry less about our own opinion."

"There will always be more good than evil." 
 

Ten Years

Julia had her picture taken for this year's dance recital program to celebrate her
10th year of dance!

So here we are...10 years and 55 dance routines later...

2007 (age 4)

2008 (age 5)

2009 (age 6)

2010 (age 7)

2011 (age 8)

2012 (age 9)

2013 (age 10) 

2014 (age 11)

2015 (age 12)

2016...Julia now at age 13...

What a beautiful dancer and performer she has become.  We are so very proud of all her accomplishments.

Cute & Funny

Musical.ly is a new app that the kids just love.  Gianna has made some super cute and some very funny music videos.  Just had to share some...

Disheartening

Gianna was watching "So You Think You Can Dance Kids" this morning and I could tell it was making her feel sad and discouraged.  She was saying how it's all about the legs and she doesn't have "the legs".  Well, the young girl she was watching had her leg in a develope up next to her ear...yes impressive...BUT...her body alignment was all off and her foot was horribly sickled!!  If you're going to do a move like that...please do it correctly.  And for Pete's sake...please take points off for bad technique if it's not done properly at a dance competition. Which nowadays it appears the judges just don't notice. They are too busy ooohing and ahhhing over the moves.

So this is the direction dance competitions are going in these days. Can you grab your leg and jam it behind your head?

Can you develope your leg and hold it next to your ear for 10 minutes?

Can you do this ugly move...called a "tilt"...which has become super popular? There's not one thing pretty about it in my opinion...

Or how about this?

Or this one is so gorgeous!! 

Um...not sure what this is...

Ahhh....love this one...

And this is a very common contortion move I see these days in practically every routine.  Is there anything pretty about it?  Um no...

But it sure does impress the judges these days!!  Forget about gorgeous contemporary and beautiful ballet technique.  Let's give the contortionist the higher points!

And if you can't do this...well then...just forget about auditioning for "So You Think You Can Dance Kids"...because it's all about flexibility these days!!

And if you can't do this move...well sadly it may be time to hang up your dance shoes.

And don't even get me going about how standing back aerials, back handsprings a hundred miles an hour across the stage, and alternating one arm back handsprings are considered dance and can beat a gorgeously trained contemporary dancer.  

We did one competition this year where the first place teen soloist did an entire solo routine without one trick or one contortion move...and she won!!  Yes!!! Finally!!! A real dancer won!!  But sadly that's the first time I've seen that happen in years.  

So my girls are getting discouraged.  They can't develope their legs up next to their ears. They can't bend themselves in half.  They can't tumble a hundred miles an hour across the stage. But in my opinion they both have the perfect amount of flexibility and strength to make them good dancers.  And more importantly, they are fantastic performers!!  Isn't that what dance is supposed to be about anyway? Moving an audience?  Not making them gasp and say "how does she do that???" Let's leave that for the circus please.

Yes, my girls attend a dance/acro school and I love watching all the fabulous tumbling and tricks the kids can do.  But by all means, if we are at a dance competition and we're against a routine with beautifully trained dancers just dancing? Then by all means...I want them to place higher than our acrobats and contortionists.  After all...we are competing in dance competitions, right?  

Brittanee Drexel

Update: Finally an arrest was made in the case and her remains were found. God Bless her and her family. 

I've been following the story of this missing teenager, Brittanee Drexel, from Rochester, NY for years now after seeing an episode about her on the TV show "Disappeared". I love a good mystery, but this one has always bothered me.

Brittanee was a junior in high school when she snuck away to Myrtle Beach with some friends for spring break back in 2009.  She lied to her parents and told them she would be staying with a friend for the weekend after they told her repeatedly she couldn't go to Myrtle Beach.

Shortly after arriving, she separated herself from the kids she went down there with because they were doing drugs and partying and that wasn't something she was into.  She kept in constant contact with her boyfriend while she was there, texting him every ten minutes or so.  One night she was walking alone back to her hotel room when her texts suddenly stopped. Knowing that she was out by herself, her boyfriend knew almost right away that something was wrong. He panicked and finally threatened her that he was going to tell her parents where she really was if she didn't text him back. When she didn't respond to his threats, he knew she was in trouble so he called her parents. They all drove down to Myrtle Beach the next day to look for her, but she was never found.

Surveillance footage showed her walking in and out of a friend's hotel, but she never made it back to where the traffic cameras were on the street where she should have been seen walking back to her own hotel.  This suggested she was likely picked up along the way...and most likely against her will.  Brittanee hasn't been seen now for seven years.

Today the FBI held a news conference updating her case.  They say they have evidence that she was held for five days in the Georgetown, S.C. area and eventually killed. McClellanville, where the news conference was held, is about 50 miles south of Myrtle Beach where she went missing. Her cell phone pinged in that area shortly after she disappeared.

Hearing that she was held for up to five days makes me sick.  I guess I just never thought about that.  I really hope the person, or people, who did this to her are found soon and put away forever.  I also hope that people who may know something will speak up so the family can finally know what happened to their beautiful daughter and hopefully bring her home for a proper burial.

God bless you Brittanee.

Flying High

The story of my life right now...

Talent Show

Gianna had her talent show on Friday night and she was AWESOME!!  She performed her competition tap dance all by herself!  I absolutely loved how all the kids cheered each other on.  Lots of screaming, clapping and hugging. So wonderfully supportive!!  I wish I had a good video of her dancing but I don't right now.  Our local cable company videotaped the show so I am looking forward to getting a copy of her performance!  I am so proud of my girl!

Gianna and her Dad

Starquest pictures

Gianna in "All Aboard" (far left)...

(2nd in from the left)...

(again 2nd in from the left)...

(way on the left by the sign)...

Gianna in "Big Noise" (leaning way back off the prop on the left)...

Creative

Julia loves doing crafts. She is forever watching DIY videos.  Here are just a few things she has made for her bedroom...

She took an old picture frame and added the craft paper as the background to create a tray...

She filled a vase with some silk flowers and added sand and seashells to a smaller vase to make a candle holder...

She spray painted a seashell silver to use for her jewelry...

Some yarn and silk flowers...

She took pages from an old paperback book to make these flowers for her wall...

She made a magazine holder from cork board...

The fish she painted in Cancun and she added pink glitter to the inside of a mason jar...

I think this is so pretty. She painted a wood letter "J" and glued some sparkly blue flowers to it..

Sand, seashells and some twine to a mason jar makes a summery decoration for her bureau...

And her craft closet...

Oh...and she's also super creative when it comes to nail design too.  She did this all by herself...

Love my creative girl.

Starquest weekend

My girls had their last regional dance competition this past weekend.  Of course all of the dances were amazing!

"Can Can" was beautiful and so much fun as usual...see little Julia there in the center? 

Gianna's duo with Victoria won a platinum!! Yay!! And best of all...they won not one...but TWO special awards!!!  One was for "Broadway Bound" and the other was the "Fusion Award" which is for great teamwork.  They did a fabulous job! Very proud of them.

Gianna warming up with her teammates...

Gianna's lyric "Amazing Grace" placed 3nd (her jazz "Big Noise" was 2nd)...

and Gianna's tap dance "All Aboard" won big again this weekend! They placed 1st in the junior large group category AND they also won the Apogee Award which is the highest scoring routine out of all the 12 and under dances in the entire competition!!

Part of the group...

more of the group...



Here they are accepting the Apogee Award...

Julia's jazz dance "Boyz" won platinum plus! She really stands out in this routine...

Gianna's acro team "Devil Went Down to Georgia" looked fantastic!! It also won platinum plus and 1st place!

Julia's solo "Homeless" was fabulous!  She finally got a platinum PLUS!! This is her fifth year competing a solo at Starquest and the very first time getting a platinum plus!! So well deserved!  There were 100 teen solos and they announced the top 20...and she placed 15th!!  I know you might think...oh just 15th...but no way.  This was probably one of the hardest competitions she has ever done with so much incredible talent. Her placing 15th was amazing!!  Our studio has 16 teen soloists and only 5 of them, including Julia, placed in the top 20. 

Coming up...Nationals at Mohegan Sun the end of June! 

Top Select Teen Solo

1 - Thiago Pacheco - EFX - McKeon Dance & Gymnastics Center

2 - Hannah Winship - Stay - McKeon Dance & Gymnastics Center

3 - Kimberly Quirk - Imprints - Paula Meola Dance & Performing Arts, Inc.

4 - Alaina Gobbi - The Last Blues Song - McKeon Dance & Gymnastics Center

5 - Natalia Lee - Man Of Lamancha - McKeon Dance & Gymnastics Center

6 - Angela Corio - Fall For You - Stephanie Kemps New England Dance Academy

7 - Alyssa Boucher - The Last Stand - Stephanie Kemps New England Dance Academy

8 - Laina Cleaves - Summertime - McKeon Dance & Gymnastics Center

9 - Cassidy Baratta - Old Skin - McKeon Dance & Gymnastics Center

10 - Brooke Hill - Imagine - McKeon Dance & Gymnastics Center

11 - Emma Graveline - Garden Of Eden - Stephanie Kemps New England Dance Academy

12 - Samantha Ladner - Let Go - Paula Meola Dance & Performing Arts, Inc.

13 - Amber Epstein - Runaway - Kathy Blake Dance Studios

14 - Emma O'Connor - The Best Is Yet To Come - Artistic Dance Conservatory

15 - Julia Digiacomo - Homeless - Stephanie Kemps New England Dance Academy

16 - Julia Hall - The Way You Make Me Feel - McKeon Dance & Gymnastics Center

17 - Emma Cummings - Heart Cry - McKeon Dance & Gymnastics Center

18 - Ava Guarino - Hope - Stephanie Kemps New England Dance Academy

19 - Shealagh Boyajian - Tell Tale Heart - Sheila Rosanio School of Dance & Gymnastics

20 – Victoria Cruz – Too Good – Encore Dance Academy – Erica Vining